大象传媒

History enthusiast Susan Morrison meets assistant curator Ian Brown at the National Museum of Flight and historian Louise Yeoman at the John Gray Centre in Haddington to find out more about East Lothian鈥檚 airship war.

100 years ago East Fortune was dominated by a gigantic airship shed, housing mainly non-rigid airships. These were like giant bullet-shaped balloons with a small gondola hanging underneath but they were surprisingly fast and capable of feats of endurance flying. They were convoy protectors and U-boat hunters, working with the Royal Navy to guard Scotland鈥檚 eastern approaches, and they carried crews of as many as ten men working in watches. One of them North Sea 3, came to a dramatic end in the Firth of Forth with the deaths of five men. This wasn鈥檛 reported in the newspapers of the day due to wartime secrecy.